


glass cage

by almostannette



Series: Crimes of Grindelwald - Oneshots [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts - Crimes of Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Arranged Marriages, F/M, First Meeting, Leta Lestrange deserved better, Mentions of PTSD, Mentions of Substance Abuse, Non-graphic descriptions of injuries, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 01:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16651720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almostannette/pseuds/almostannette
Summary: Leta Lestrange was going to marry a hero.





	glass cage

**Author's Note:**

> The movie left me with so many questions! How did Leta and Theseus get engaged, how does she feel about Newt, what did Theseus do in the war that made him a hero?
> 
> So, I wrote this piece to explore some of those questions. I hope you like it!

Her father wanted her to marry a respectable pureblood wizard. ‘An advantageous alliance’, he kept telling her. An advantageous alliance, because House Lestrange didn’t need another scandal, not after the disaster that was her father’s first marriage.

The name ‘Laurena’ was a taboo at Lestrange Manor.

The pool of potential candidates was small - so small, in fact, that Leta’s father started looking for a good match for her abroad as soon as she’d turned fourteen. None of it had been her choice.

* * *

“You could marry me,” Newt used to say, back at Hogwarts. “I mean, we’re friends, right? At least that would guarantee that you end up with someone you like.”

She smiled sadly and told him, yes, that could be an option. But as the second son of a family which didn’t boast nearly as long of a family tree as the Lestranges, her father would still disapprove of a match between them.

Newt told her she would have to be strong for once - her father would accept her decision eventually, he was sure of it.

She nodded but privately thought that Newt meant well but he had no idea. He had never had to be the sole bearer of his family’s expectations, never had to conform to societal norms at all costs.

Newt could afford to be an outcast.

She could not.

* * *

She disappointed her father anyway. He promised her hand in marriage to an Italian pureblood wizard - he was more than twice her age but didn’t have any heirs. He was looking for a young wife to carry on his name line.

No matter how often she told herself that she could do this… the reality turned out to be so much more frightening than her worst nightmares. Before anyone could force her to put her signature on the magically binding contract, intertwining her life irrevocably with that of the man her father had picked for her, she disapparated in a fit of panic.

She ended up at the Leaky Cauldron, spotting a familiar face across the room. It wasn’t Newt, no, he was halfway across the world and sending a letter to him would have taken weeks, not to mention waiting for his reply…

It was Newt’s brother, alone at a table, nursing a glass of Firewhisky.

Throwing all caution to the wind, she crossed the room and sat down opposite him.

“Good evening,” she said, only slightly offended when Theseus Scamander didn’t look her in the eyes.

“Leta,” he said, and it had been years since she’d heard his voice, years since she’d last visited Scamander Hall. In the meantime, they’d both grown up, old and weary. “You’re bleeding.”

The pain only registered now, when she looked down and saw that she’d splinched herself. Three fingernails were missing from her left hand. She raised her wand, trying to cast a healing spell, but her aim was off. Her hand was shaking too much.

Theseus reached over the table, took her wand from her hand and cast a healing spell. When he gave her the wand back, she could see that his hands were slightly shaking as well.

They sat together and talked until the bartender told them it was closing time. Leta apparated home with Theseus that night, and every night after that, too.

* * *

Theseus looked surprisingly young until you got close enough to look into his eyes. They belonged to a man twice his age, a man who’d seen more horror than anyone should rightfully have to withstand in a lifetime.

Theseus fought in the war, brave and courageously, living up to the reputation of his namesake, or so they said. They had given him an Order of Merlin, First Class and a high position at the Ministry for his troubles, and turned a blind eye to his worryingly high consumption of firewhisky and the Dreamless Sleep potion.

* * *

Leta Lestrange wasn’t going to marry a respectable pureblood wizard. She got engaged to a man who understood fear perhaps better than most, who understood what it felt like to constantly have to live up to the expectations society had placed upon you, without asking whether you were even comfortable with them.

Leta Lestrange was going to marry a hero.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear what you thought about this fic! Comments, kudos, asks etc. give me life :)
> 
> Find me on tumblr: [@almost-annette](https://almost-annette.tumblr.com/)


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